


& as i drop my defenses ( you start to crack a smile )

by felicitysmoakapologist



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Mutual Pining, Sick Character, Sickfic, Tumblr Prompt, they're dumb and I love them, they're in love and everyone knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicitysmoakapologist/pseuds/felicitysmoakapologist
Summary: Luke is sick. Garcia has a duty to her superheroes, even the ones she's pretending to hate. The first slight dent in her fluffy armor.
Relationships: Luke Alvez & Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez/Penelope Garcia
Comments: 10
Kudos: 119





	& as i drop my defenses ( you start to crack a smile )

**Author's Note:**

> this is a prompt from tumblr that got way too long to post there. I hope, nonny, this is what you wanted, i know it took way longer than it should've but here it is, i still love them with all my heart. Also, I might turn this into a place to drop some slightly related other prompts branching off of this one!

> anonymous asked : garvez fluff please, maybe taking care of each other when sick? idk I'll read anything with this pairing :)

He’s the last person to admit when he’s sick. There are far too many things to do, and far too little time to do them in, there always has been. So, when he wakes up with a runny nose and a pounding head, he tells himself that it’s allergies. The season is changing and it’s only second year in Virginia, his body hasn’t acclimated. ( It had acclimated to Iraq just fine but that’s neither here nor there. ) It’s definitely not the fact that he’d spent his time off with his nieces and nephew, who weren’t in the best of health even as they climbed all over him at the playground they’d gone to back home. He takes an allergy pill that’s been sitting in his cupboard for two years, untouched and makes his way to Quantico. The second Emily sees him, red-nosed and pale, she turns him around and sends him back down to the parking garage with a firm order not to come back until he’s not contagious. Even as he tries to convince her it’s allergies, his head keeps pounding. If he hadn’t felt bad before, by the time he gets back home and cancels Roxy’s sitter he’s sure the medicine has worn off because he can’t see straight. Still, some part of his foggy brain is yelling at him to take the opportunity to be productive – _anything._ _Call your abuela. Go for a run. Do your laundry. Take Roxy to the dog park._ He falls asleep on the couch, Roxy cuddled up next to him, as he tries to decide.

She is _not_ an ice queen but she has not been the best team mate … or even person to the newbie – _Luke._ In fact, all of the progress that she’d made with him seems to have taken ten steps back. She hates to admit the crush she has on him, this man who’d replaced her best friend, especially to herself. Hates that there had been a slight twinge of jealousy when she’d met Lisa, who was accomplished and smart and gorgeous. It doesn’t matter, it’s unfair – she **knows** it’s unfair – that she’s taken all of her misplaced feelings out on him. He'd never done anything but try, never done anything but prove her wrong, never done anything but stay when she’d been so sure he’d leave as soon as he could. She's in the middle of an upgrade when a case comes in and only barely suppresses a frown at his empty chair as she walks into the conference room. She presents the case, the team is wheels up in 30, and she asks Emily as skillfully as she can where Luke without Emily giving her the Smug Look ™ that every single one of her friends seem to have when it comes to the Luke and Penelope Situation. ( Has she ever mentioned she hates profilers? ) Emily tells her that she’s sent him home and Penelope’s five minutes into planning a sick basket two seconds later before Emily kisses her cheek and steps into the waiting elevator. She asks Kevin to cover for her and in under an hour she’s on her way to Luke's apartment, basket in hand. She's feeling _so very_ little red riding hood brave by the time she’s at the door, resolved to let this be the first step to salvaging a friendship from someone who seems to be sticking around. ( She hopes. She desperately hopes. ) Until she freezes, fist raised to knock on his door her breath caught in her throat with one thought paralyzing her. What if Lisa is here? What if she thinks that it’s weird? Why has she never considered that with any other teammates' significant others before? She knows why. **_It’s different_ ** . She sighs before she straightens her shoulders, she’s Penelope Garcia. She can get along with anyone - **easily** , can’t she? 

So, she knocks. 

And she knocks. 

And she knocks, one more time, before she leans her ear against the door and hears a low moan? She knocks again louder before she tries the handle and it’s – open. “ What self respecting FBI agent –” She mutters to herself as she slowly sticks her head into the living room. Roxy runs to the door, the hair on her neck standing up before she recognizes Garcia and sits dutifully, expecting a treat. Penelope's about to pet her when she sees Luke, sprawled out on the couch. A shade paler than he usually is, his big hand splayed across his stomach and she can see the beads of sweat forming on his forehead even though the apartment feels like it’s colder than outside. She moves further into the house, closing the door softly behind her and freezes when he shifts in his sleep. She smiles, involuntarily, when his lips move even if she can’t hear what he’s muttering about. She watches him for a second before the creep factor sets in and she moves to the couch, setting the basket down on the coffee table before she gently puts a hand on his shoulder. She shakes him a little and swears he says her name, before she backs away. Bad idea. No touching, new rule. 

“Luke?” She says uncertainly from the arm of the couch. “Luke.” Firmly said as she scoots closer. “ _Luuuuuuuuuke_ .” Sing song because it’s the only thing that makes this less awkward. “ _Luuuuuuke_?”

He dreams of her, to his hazy embarrassment. He thought these dreams had ended, firmly cast out of his mind after he and Lisa had started dating. Guess not. He dreams of squeaky toys and rainbow dresses and hot pink lips surrounded by darkness. He dreams of her smiling at something Spencer's said while they’re at the bar as a unit. As a family. His family now, too. He dreams of the smile reserved just for him as she sits on his desk when no one is around and drops the facade. He dreams of the secret smile she would give him after they’d made love the first time, the blush that would start to spread across her chest and make its way up to her neck before turning her cheeks an even darker shade of pink as she writhes under him. He dreams of her voice, sending a shiver of warmth down his spine. His name ( not Newbie ) falling off her lips – _Luke_ ? Luke. _Luuuuuuuke_ . _Luuuuuuke_? 

“Luke, seriously, wake up!” She says loudly, just shy of yelling and he’s jolted awake by the very voice that had infiltrated his dreams and sluggishly reaches for his gun before he realizes that she’s standing in front of him, worry etched across her brow. _Jesus, he’d dreamt her into reality_. His heart still racing, he sets his gun back down on the coffee table and runs a hand over his face before he pushes himself up.

“Luke? Are you ok? You don’t look great at all … not that you look great any other time. I mean – Emily told me you were sick and I wanted to check on you before we got too deep into the case. Did you know that your door was open? Because, Mr. Ex-Army Ranger slash Fugitive Task Force Guy slash Profiler Newbie that is a big no no. I just walked in! I could’ve been anyone! A bad guy! A vacuum salesman! And you would’ve been defenseless.” It's the rambling that assures him it is not a dream and he smiles up at her as she softly presses the back of her hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up, when was the last time you took medicine? “ 

“ _Penelope_ –” And he can’t help but smile when her eyes dart to his. “Why are you in my house?” He asks and watches as she jumps back as far as she can in her impossibly high heels, pulling her hand away, and despite the fever he knows he has he misses her warmth. 

“Well, since you asked, it’s customary for me to bring sick baskets to the team if one of you is sick. I can't let superheroes go unattended, even Newbie superheroes.” She sits on the edge of his coffee table and opens the basket she brought. “I have cough and cold medicine, I have gatorade by the gallon to keep you hydrated, I have movies galore, and homemade soup. Well, it was homemade at the restaurant I got it at. I didn't have time to cook, the team was leaving and I had to do the briefing.” When she looks up, he’s staring at her and she finds that the wave of tenderness that bursts in her chest is – unsettling. She stands up, finger pointed clearly at him as she moves back towards the door. “And – **_MISTER_ ** – your door was unlocked! I knocked and knocked and for all I know you could’ve been seriously injured.” 

“You’re right.” He says, only sincerity in his eyes even as she’s scolding him. He’s heard, of course, about the Fisher King and what happened to Agent Greenaway, what happened to Agent Hotchner with the Reaper, her own shooting, she’s seen enough of her team injured in their own homes. “I'll be more careful next time.” He watches her carefully, trying not to spook her before he reaches out for the dvd’s she’s set on the table. Goonies. Ferris Bueller. Some Kind of Wonderful. 

“I didn’t really know what your sick day movies were but those are mine.” She says and she steps away from the door. She still looks like she’s going to run away. 

“All of these are solid sick day movies. Do you – want to watch one with me?” Luke asks with baited breath, worried he’s pushed too far, too soon. She’s quiet for longer than he’s ever seen her before she sits down on the far end of the couch. “If you think you can stomach staying around for a few hours to make sure I don’t die.”

“I can watch one, but only after you take more medicine. I can’t have you dying on my watch, they’ll all think I did it on purpose.” She says with a smile and he can’t help but chuckle, grabbing the medicine and taking it into the kitchen. He takes a deep breath after he swallows the recommended dose, grabbing two bowls and silverware for the soup she’d brought. He knows that she said she’d do it for any one of the team and he doesn’t doubt it, he’s seen first hand how caring she can be for them, but hope springs eternal that she’s warming up to him nonetheless. “Do you – uh – want anything to drink?” He calls from the kitchen and she’s startled away from the only two or three pictures he has up as Roxy follows her around the room.

“Uh – oh. No, thank you!” She calls back, a small smile on her lips as she picks up a picture of what has to be a young Luke and his sister. Her fingers scratch at Roxy’s ears absentmindedly. She sets it down when she hears him coming out of the kitchen, hurrying back to the couch. “Oh you don’t – I’m not going to eat your soup, it’s for you! So you’ll get better.”

“Hey, come on, like you said, it’s homemade. You can’t turn down homemade. Are you going to say no to a sick man?”

“Are you sure you’re not just worried I’d poison you?” 

“I think if you were going to do it, you’d have already gotten the job done, Penny.” Luke tells her, a weak smile that annoyingly melts her heart on his lips as she takes the bowls from him, pouring the still steaming soup into both of them. He disappears again as she opens a gatorade and sets it next to his bowl before she texts Emily and Kevin. It’s a little fib, _Luke needs me for a few hours_ , but Emily thankfully doesn’t allude to anything after she tells her it’s fine. She almost groans when he walks back into the living room, comfortable in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Of course he looks amazing, even sick. He picks Some Kind of Wonderful because, of course, he picks Some Kind of Wonderful and she kicks off her heels as Roxy jumps up next to her. If she weren’t so very aware of the fact that his girlfriend could show up at any second, it’d almost be domestic. It’d almost be perfect. 

They watch Some Kind of Wonderful. Well, they watch _most_ of Some Kind of Wonderful. Somewhere between Penelope reminding him to drink his gatorade and halfway through the movie, he falls back asleep despite every effort not to. Dreaming of her when the real thing is sitting beside him, his dog as enamored as he is, just doesn’t compare. When he wakes up again the credits are rolling, and she’s gone. Disappointment flairs as he notes that all of the goodies from her basket are put away. The dishes they’d used are washed. The leftover soup in the fridge, like she’d never just waltzed in and taken over his life for a day. If he weren’t so very aware of the fact that he could never have her, it might’ve been perfect. 


End file.
